Mirror display support



May 4, 1954 C. F. WILLINGHAM MIRROR DISPLAY SUPPORT Filed March 27, 1952 INVENTORN Char/es E Willing/7am ATTORNEYS Patented May 4, 1954 UITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MIRROR DISPLAY SUPPORT Charles F. Willingham, Dallas, Tex. Application March 27, 1952, Serial No. 278,879

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in mirror display supports.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved mirror display support for use, primarily, in displaying mirrors with pieces of furniture, where such a mirror is to be hung on a wall in back of the piece of furniture and it is desired to make the display in the middle portion of a show room, show window or other place where a wall is not available, or where it is not desired to use the wall as a support.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved mirror support which may be attached to a wide variety of furniture of varying heights and structures.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mirror support which is trim in appearance and which is of such a construction as not to be obtrusive in the furniture display.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a mirror support having means making for a simple and expeditious attachment to a piece of furniture without the use of tools.

A construction designed to carry out the invention will be hereinafter described together with other features of the invention.

The invention will be more readily understood from. a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein an example of the invention is shown, and wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective View of a mirror support constructed in accordance with the invention, portions being broken away,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same mounted on the top of a piece of furniture, which is shown in dotted lines,

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the bracket and the lower end of the standard, the screws being Fig. is an exploded view of the standard extension,

Fig. 5 is a partial plan view of the support in its table position, and

ri 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, and showing the support in an adjusted position.

in the drawings the numeral If! designates an upright standard, preferably made of suitable metal. The standard is T-shaped in cross-section having oppositely directed vertical wings ll, transversely alined and intersected by a vertical web 92 extending from the intersection of the wings at right angles thereto. A foot bracket it extends from the bottom of the standard at right angles to the faces of the wings and forwardly with respect to the web which projects rearwardly.

The bracket 53 has at its inner or rear end a pair of upstanding fingers i4, spaced sufiiciently to engage the rear sides of the wings snugly on each side of the web. These fingers are welded or otherwise firmly attached to the standard. The bracket has a plurality of spaced screw-threaded holes iii, in two of which inverted set screws :6 may be threaded. The screws have knurled heads. A clamping member or plate ii is slidable vertically on the standard and coacts with the racket is in clamping a table top or other structure therebetween whereby the standard may be rigidly supported in an upright position.

The plate ll has a facing iii of felt or other padding secured to its under side for resting upon the top surface of a dressing table A (Fig. 2), or other furniture, so as not to mar the same when the screws It are tightened to engage the under side of said table. The upper portion of the web I2 is provided with downwardly inclined kerfs l8, directed inwardly from its rear edge. The supporting cord B of a mirror C is engaged in one of these kerfs, whereby the mirror may be hung over the table top A and supported against the faces of the wings i I in an upright position.

For making adjustments and for fastening the support in place, the outer edges of the wings and web are provided with horizontally alined rectilinear notches l The plate ii is formed with a pair of intersecting slots, 2% and 25, disposed at right angles to form a T-shaped slot or opening adapted to receive the standard It. The slot 20 which forms the bar of the T and is adapted to receive the wings H may be referred to as the front or forward slot, while the slot 2! which forms the shank of the T and is adapted to receive the web 52, will be referred to as the rearward or back slot. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the slot Ed is approximately of the width of the web 52 so as to receive the same in sliding engagement, and is of a depth approximately equal to the width of the web from the bottom of the notches I 9 to the wings I l. The slot 2b is roughly twice as wide as the thickness of the wings i i and of a length equal to the combined width of the wings. A pair of ears 2d are provided in the rearward corners of the slot 29 so as to reduce the length of the rearward half of such slot to approximately the distance between the bottoms of the notches H9 in the wings ii.

When the plate is released and moved rearwardly with respect to the standard it, as shown in Fig. 5, the wings are brought into the longer forward portion of the slot 20, whereby the plate is freed for vertical adjustment on the standard. When the plate is moved forwardly on the standard, as shown in Fig. 6, the ears 20 enter the notches IQ of the wings, and the plate is held against vertical movement on the standard. The notches on the rear edge of the web 12 engage the plate when said plate is fastened, as in Fig. 6, and disengage when the plate is moved rearwardly, as is shown in Fig. 5. The rear notches it in the back edge of the Web, serve to brace the Plate in its adjusted position and to prevent the tilting or canting of the plate on the standard.

For fastening the parts in place, a latch 22 is employed. This latch includes a circular disk head 23 having a central depending stud 24 iournaled and secured in the plate so that the head is free to rotate. The head has a fiat side 25 in its periphery and is pivoted such a distance from the forward slot 20 that when it is rotated to bring its rounded edge into engagement with the front side of the standard, the plate is moved forwardly so that the wings are in the shorter rearward portion of the slot 20 and the plate is held in the notches 19, as is shown in Fig. 6. When the head 23 is rotated to aline the flat side 25 with the front side of the standard, the plate may be moved rearwardly to bring the wings into the longer forward portion of the slot 20, whereby said plate is released for vertical adjustment. The head 2's may either be eccentrically mounted on the stud 2 1 with the latter displaced toward the flat face 25, or the periphery of the head may be given a slightly greater curvature on each side of the face 25 to provide a cam locking action for the latch. With this arrangement, the head 23 may be rotated in either direction to wedge and lock the standards in the plate.

There may be instances where the support is used with dressers and the like in which the top terminates at the back, flush with the rear side of said dresser. In such instances it is necessary to engage the bracket it under the lower edge of the back of the dresser (not shown) near the floor and thus a longer standard would be required. For such occasions I provide an extension member 25, constructed like the upper portion of the standard. A complementary shaped sleeve 27 (Fig. 4) is fastened in a suitable manner on the lower end of the member 26 so. as

to extend down a suitable distance, whereby the r upper end of the standard may be telescoped thereinto. The entire structure is compact,

.sturdy and symmetrical. When in use, much of the device is concealed behind the mirror and the piece of furniture, and aids greatly in an artistic display of the furniture. Although the latch is desirable, it is not essential since clamping of the support upon a piece of furniture will frictionally restrain the plate I] in position.

The foregoing description of the invention is explanatory thereof and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction may be made, within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A mirror display support including, an upright standard having means at its upper portion for hanging a mirror thereon, said standard having vertical edges with notches therein below the hanging means, a bracket attached to the lower end of the standard having an outward extension for engaging under a member of a piece of furniture, a clamping member having contiguous openings of unequal lengths receiving the stand-- ard, one of the openings being long enough to permit free vertical sliding of the member on the standard, the other opening being shorter whereby its ends are engaged in the standard notches when the member is shifted horizontally, and a rotatable fastening on the clamping member movable into engagement with the standard when the clamping member is in engagement with the notches of the standard.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 152,955 Sleeper July 14, 1874 550,443 Deal Nov. 26, 1895 618,603 Henneman Jan. 31, 1899 634,091 Newlee Oct. 3, 1899 756,024 Jones Mar. 29, 1904 1,349,225 Resenblum Aug. 10, 1920 1,559,575 McMillan Nov. 3, 1925 1,788,096 Friedemann Jan. 6, 1931 2,461,722 Coons Feb. 15, 1949 2,531,925 Taylor et al. Nov. 28, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 23,010 Great Britain 1892 

